A Clean Bill Of Health

Claudia had retired into her ready room - albeit briefly for a cup of tea - when she heard her chime ring. Who was outside that couldn't possibly wait for a few minutes whilst she had a cup of tea? Keeping hold of the cup Claudia summoned her guest before starting to sip from it - savouring the warm and sweet beverage which was much needed.

"Come in" Claudia called.

It was Tabbie, fresh out of sickbay, cleared to return to duty after her close call with something she picked up on the star base. Opening the door, Tabetha walked up to the Captain's desk, hands behind her back, ready to give her some news.

"That's great to hear Lieutenant. It's good timing too - we're quite short in your department at the moment with Mr Muniz on the surface with the away team. Before we send you back out onto the bridge I'll give you a rundown of where we're up to" Claudia said.

That wasn't good, her department was still low on numbers, that didn't bode well for any future shortages. Hopefully, they were now a thing of the past, but Tabetha did want to have this one addressed. Urgently.

"Away team?" Tabbie asked, curiously. "And Captain, is there any way we can recruit some more people? This shortage is no good for anyone."

Claudia smiled. "I'll explain that now for you Tabbie. So we were on our way to Starbase Unity as you were already aware but as we got close we found a distress beacon which was pointing us in a direction away from our destination. A staff briefing determined - albeit barely - that we should go and investigate. We found a habitable planet in orbit of a star and an away team has gone down to investigate. Commander ben-Avram is team lead with Lieutenants Muniz and Snowdon accompanied by Ensign Maddison, Petty Officer Laena, Sergeant Zaltin and a few others"

Tabbie listened, interested. This was the first new planet a ship she was serving on had discovered, but what was slightly disappointing was her love interest, Asher, was not on board.

Tabbie knew she'd have to find a way to get down there.

"Oh, cool. Is there any chance I can go down, please, Captain?" Tabetha asked, hopefully.

Claudia felt once the situation had been averted then she didn't see why Tabetha couldn't go down.

"Well - we do have a situation at the moment with some radiation being aimed at the ship by an unknown source" Claudia replied.

That did not sound good, Tabetha thought. Asher was down there, with the radiation, and Tabbie didn't want to lose the young doctor before she had even had a chance to tell Asher just how strong her feelings were.

"How are we getting them back," Tabbie replied, worriedly. "Captain?"

"The away team are going to be evacuated by a runabout - I'm informed Lieutenant Dedeker has volunteered to take the helm of the runabout so we can keep you up here. Once the situation is resolved then we'll be sending a few teams - including the current one if they're up to it - back down to the surface again" Claudia said.

Tabbie nodded, understanding Claudia's explanation. Ryland might have been annoying, but Tabbie couldn't doubt his skills as a pilot at all. When Ryland got back, Tabbie hoped to put things right between them.

"Okay, Captain. How long until they leave?" Tabbie asked.

Claudia replied. "Not long - five minutes at the most. We should get back out onto the bridge before they leave. After you Lieutenant - the helm's been kept nice and warm for you"

Without hesitation, Tabbie turned around and made her way back to the bridge, thinking about whether she would see Asher again. Tabetha had a job to do, she knew that, but Asher was important to her and Tabbie wanted to see her again, desperately.

Claudia followed Tabbie back out onto the bridge and felt satisfied the Vindex's most senior flight control officer was back on duty and on the bridge. She had filled the role vacated by Annie well - she wasn't Annie - but Tabbie was Tabbie and she was possibly the best the Vindex could have hoped for in the circumstances.

Tabetha relieved the man at her station, who left the bridge, and took a few seconds to get comfortable. It was just as she left it, thankfully.

Tabbie looked at the view screen, which showed the planet in all of its beauty, before turning to face Captain Ainscow.

"What are your instructions, Captain?" Tabbie asked.

"Hold position for now Lieutenant. Stand by with the impulse engines if they need taking a bit closer before launch" Claudia instructed.

Tabetha turned back around in her chair, checking the impulse engines were ready to go on Claudia's command. They were.